Boston Bruins rookie Brad Marchand delivering much more than expected

Friday

Jan 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 28, 2011 at 2:37 AM

Brad Marchand's play has helped put the Bruins in position to lead the NHL's Northeast Division at the All-Star break. After scoring just one point in 20 games last year, Marchand has emerged as one of the NHL's most productive rookies.

Mike Loftus

As far as rookies go, he wasn’t supposed to be The Next Big Thing. In fact, if he even made the team out of training camp this season, it was probably going to have something to do with his Big Mouth.

So what has 5-foot-9, 183-pound Brad Marchand become to the 2010-11 Boston Bruins?

“He’s a big part of our team right now,” said Mark Recchi, Marchand’s linemate for most of the last month. “You’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”

While the Vezina Trophy-worthy work of goalie Tim Thomas may be the biggest reason Boston can enter the NHL’s All-Star break atop the Northeast Division, the somewhat unlikely contributions of Marchand, 22, have also had a major impact.

Despite starting the season on a fourth/energy line and losing three games in December to injury, Marchand is eighth on the Bruins’ scoring list with 25 points, fourth with 13 goals, tied for second with a plus-21 rating. Measured against his peer group, the numbers are no less impressive: He’s ninth among NHL rookies in points, sixth in goals, and the only first-year player close to Marchand’s plus-minus is Bruins teammate Adam McQuaid (plus-15). Marchand's plus-21, in fact, is seventh among all NHL players – and nobody in the league has matched his four shorthanded goals.

The B’s entered the season hoping for production from a rookie – they just didn’t know it would come from Marchand. If a kid was going to chip in 10 to 15 goals and 30-35 points, it seemed more logical for it to be one of their two most recent first-round choices, like Tyler Seguin (No. 2 overall last year) or Jordan Caron (25th; 2009).

Marchand, in his third pro season, has instead outplayed everyone among Boston’s rookie class, and that’s saying something: Seguin, although predictably inconsistent at age 18, has still contributed 16 points; Steven Kampfer has turned an emergency recall from Providence (American Hockey League) into a full-time job on defense next to captain Zdeno Chara; McQuaid’s no-frills play has recently left no room in the lineup for veteran defenseman Mark Stuart.

This is the same Marchand who contributed exactly one assist in 20 games over two recalls last year from Providence – even though he played the first batch with veterans Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder.

“I was nervous,” Marchand said. “When you get called up, you don’t know the guys as well. You’re kind of coming into unfamiliar territory. There’s a bunch of things you get nervous about.”

After a 59-point rookie year (2008-09) and nearly point-per-game production last season (34 games, 32 points) in the minors, Marchand knew he could contribute at the NHL level. He focused on making this year’s Bruins from Game 1, no matter the role.

“People may not realize it, but there can be a big difference between starting the year here, and getting called up,” Marchand said.

“Once I knew I was playing that first game this year, I was very happy. I knew if I had a good game, there was an opportunity to stay in the lineup, and that’s all I wanted to do. I wanted to prove I should be in the lineup, and it gave me extra motivation to do well.”

That motivation was obvious. Starting on a line with until-then underrated center Gregory Campbell and enforcer Shawn Thornton, the doggedly determined Marchand earned a reputation as a tireless forechecker who specialized in drawing penalties and driving opponents to distraction with his running commentary. (Coach Claude Julien, and several referees and linesmen, have convinced Marchand to tone that down.) He earned extra ice time killing penalties, and by November, the points started to come.

Julien elevated him to a line with Bergeron and Recchi during a post-Christmas road trip, and if he had any plans to return him to Campbell and Thornton, they’ve been put to the side: Marchand has seven goals and 11 points in 13 games since Jan. 1. A goal in Wednesday's 2-1 victory over Florida gave him 6-3--9 totals in his last eight games, and offered more proof that he's the Bruins' good luck charm: Boston is 11-0-1 when Marchard scores a goal; 15-1-4 when he scores a point.

“He’s a great player,” said Bergeron. “His skating, his forecheck – he never quits on any pucks. That helps me and Rex a lot.”

As any young player would, Marchand relishes the opportunity to play with a future Hall of Famer (Recchi) and one of the NHL’s premier two-way centers (Bergeron), especially because their styles mesh with his.

“Sometimes they make some really creative plays,” Marchand said, “but for the most part they just try to get the puck in deep, and work down low. Same with me.”

Marchand’s next trick will be remaining effective after the All-Star break, when games dwindle and teams fight harder to earn playoff slots.

“You want your coach to have confidence in you,” he said. “You don’t want to give him a reason to move you down, or not play you. You want to continue to play, build, contribute to the team.”